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A or An? 1
- Thread starter Golom
- Start date
Hi,
If I recall correctly ( from English Movies) if you say
A Hotel ( or was it An Hotel?) , you will be seen as a 'toff' , that is, someone very full of himself and elitist .
( I think it is from the phrase.. A Toffee-Nosed Bast..d)
![[profile]](/data/assets/smilies/profile.gif "[profile] [profile]")
To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."
If I recall correctly ( from English Movies) if you say
A Hotel ( or was it An Hotel?) , you will be seen as a 'toff' , that is, someone very full of himself and elitist .
( I think it is from the phrase.. A Toffee-Nosed Bast..d)
To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."
From the Merriam-Webster on-line dict.:
4 -- used as a function word with nouns to form adverbial phrases of quantity, amount, or degree <felt a little tired>
usage In speech and writing a is used before a consonant sound <a door> <a human>. Before a vowel sound an is usual <an icicle> <an honor> but especially in speech a is used occasionally, more often in some dialects than in others <a apple> <a hour> <a obligation>. Before a consonant sound represented by a vowel letter a is usual <a one> <a union> but an also occurs though less frequently now than formerly <an unique> <such an one>. Before unstressed or weakly stressed syllables with initial h both a and an are used in writing <a historic> <an historic> but in speech an is more frequent whether \h\ is pronounced or not.
4 -- used as a function word with nouns to form adverbial phrases of quantity, amount, or degree <felt a little tired>
usage In speech and writing a is used before a consonant sound <a door> <a human>. Before a vowel sound an is usual <an icicle> <an honor> but especially in speech a is used occasionally, more often in some dialects than in others <a apple> <a hour> <a obligation>. Before a consonant sound represented by a vowel letter a is usual <a one> <a union> but an also occurs though less frequently now than formerly <an unique> <such an one>. Before unstressed or weakly stressed syllables with initial h both a and an are used in writing <a historic> <an historic> but in speech an is more frequent whether \h\ is pronounced or not.
Olaf Doschke
Programmer
95.83 % - got euphemism wrong.
Not bad for a German, don't you think?
An X! An X! An X for a U!
Bye, Olaf.
Not bad for a German, don't you think?
An X! An X! An X for a U!
Bye, Olaf.
Olaf Doschke
Programmer
Well, in analogy to "A horse! A horse! A kindom for a horse!" it would of course better be "An X! An X! A U for an X!.
And in analogy to the german idiom "Er läßt sich kein X für ein U vormachen" - which means "You can't put anything over on him." - it would even better be "A U! A U! An X for a U!".
After all it shows, it's not always right to put "an" before vocals, even if these are single letters.
Bye, Olaf.
And in analogy to the german idiom "Er läßt sich kein X für ein U vormachen" - which means "You can't put anything over on him." - it would even better be "A U! A U! An X for a U!".
After all it shows, it's not always right to put "an" before vocals, even if these are single letters.
Bye, Olaf.
- Moderator
- #27
It depends on the sound.
Union *sounds* like it starts with a Y (and although sometimes Y is a vowel, I don't belive there are any words that START with a Y where the Y is used as a vowel) Therefore, "A Union"
Hour starts with an "ow" sound... therefore, "An Hour"
Obligation starts with an "ah" sound, therefore "An Obligation"
Once you break it down to the SOUND a word starts with, it makes sense.
The word "An" is probably so your tongue doesn't get as confused, going from a vowel sound (a) directly into another vowel sound (hour)... having a consonant there allows you to "close" the word and continue on, acting as a break between words and sounds. "An Hour" is certainly much easier to say than "A hour"... if you say them out loud, you can hear that in the first one, the words are distinct, but in the second, they kind of run together.
Aesthetically, it makes sense too.... because even if you run it together... "Annnnnour" your brain still picks up the two words... whereas "ayyyyyyyy-our" doesn't "separate" the words.
I should have been a tholologist (your "word for the day").
Just my 2¢
"In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify its owner." --Me
--Greg
Union *sounds* like it starts with a Y (and although sometimes Y is a vowel, I don't belive there are any words that START with a Y where the Y is used as a vowel) Therefore, "A Union"
Hour starts with an "ow" sound... therefore, "An Hour"
Obligation starts with an "ah" sound, therefore "An Obligation"
Once you break it down to the SOUND a word starts with, it makes sense.
The word "An" is probably so your tongue doesn't get as confused, going from a vowel sound (a) directly into another vowel sound (hour)... having a consonant there allows you to "close" the word and continue on, acting as a break between words and sounds. "An Hour" is certainly much easier to say than "A hour"... if you say them out loud, you can hear that in the first one, the words are distinct, but in the second, they kind of run together.
Aesthetically, it makes sense too.... because even if you run it together... "Annnnnour" your brain still picks up the two words... whereas "ayyyyyyyy-our" doesn't "separate" the words.
I should have been a tholologist (your "word for the day").
Just my 2¢
"In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify its owner." --Me
--Greg
CorBlimeyLimey
Technical User
Hmmm .... how would you pronounce the first "a" in abrogate?
[Cheers]
CorBlimeyLimey
Technical User
gbaughma ... sorry, don't mean to pick on you, but did you mean philologist? I can find no references to "tholologist".
[Cheers]
[Cheers]
- Moderator
- #34
Nope. I meant Tholologist. A person who studies words, their roots and meanings.
I have a friend who's got his masters in Library Science, with a minor in Tholology.
(The first time I heard the word, actually, was in Forbidden Planet; Dr. Morbius was a Tholologist)
[a minute later]
Now, isn't that weird tho... the only reference to that word that I find on the Net was in Forbidden Planet, and the fact that a friend of mine actually has a minor in it. Is the term antiquated? Or just not used any more? Freaky... even Dictionary.com didn't have it.
Just my 2¢
"In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify its owner." --Me
--Greg
I have a friend who's got his masters in Library Science, with a minor in Tholology.
(The first time I heard the word, actually, was in Forbidden Planet; Dr. Morbius was a Tholologist)
[a minute later]
Now, isn't that weird tho... the only reference to that word that I find on the Net was in Forbidden Planet, and the fact that a friend of mine actually has a minor in it. Is the term antiquated? Or just not used any more? Freaky... even Dictionary.com didn't have it.
Just my 2¢
"In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify its owner." --Me
--Greg
- Moderator
- #35
... and yet again....
Dictionary.com DOES talk about a Philologist (No, not a person who studies guys named Phil)....
Now the interesting thing about that is, the DEFINITION they give is:
1. Literary study or classical scholarship.
2. See historical linguistics.
However, the ROOTS of the word they give:
[Middle English philologie, from Latin philologia, love of learning, from Greek philologi, from philologos, fond of learning or of words : philo-, philo- + logos, reason, speech; see -logy.]
So, never mind... on reading that more carefully, that still isn't the right word. But Tholology I'm having a problem finding a reference to. How strange, that a word that is supposed to mean the study of words, their roots and meanings, is missing from the dictionary. <LOL>
Just my 2¢
"In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify its owner." --Me
--Greg
Dictionary.com DOES talk about a Philologist (No, not a person who studies guys named Phil)....
Now the interesting thing about that is, the DEFINITION they give is:
1. Literary study or classical scholarship.
2. See historical linguistics.
However, the ROOTS of the word they give:
[Middle English philologie, from Latin philologia, love of learning, from Greek philologi, from philologos, fond of learning or of words : philo-, philo- + logos, reason, speech; see -logy.]
So, never mind... on reading that more carefully, that still isn't the right word. But Tholology I'm having a problem finding a reference to. How strange, that a word that is supposed to mean the study of words, their roots and meanings, is missing from the dictionary. <LOL>
Just my 2¢
"In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify its owner." --Me
--Greg
CorBlimeyLimey
Technical User
I think you should double check with your friend:-
[Cheers]
[Cheers]
So what is the rule that caused 'A napple' to become 'An apple'?
Or the name 'Ap Rice' to become 'A Price'?
Or 'Ap Meric' to become 'Amerika' (Richard Ap Meric, aka Richard Amerika, of Bristol, England about 1475, who ran a trading company visiting North America before Columbus sailed from Spain decades later).
As far as 'A' and 'An' are concerned, the added 'n' takes the place of the glottal stop, which us English speakers find very hard to use because we so often blur our words together. The 'n' allows us to continue to blur them together without the loss of meaning that often would occur if we blurred the glottal stop to nothingness.
![[smile]](/data/assets/smilies/smile.gif "[smile] [smile]")
mmerlinn
"Political correctness is the BADGE of a COWARD!"
Or the name 'Ap Rice' to become 'A Price'?
Or 'Ap Meric' to become 'Amerika' (Richard Ap Meric, aka Richard Amerika, of Bristol, England about 1475, who ran a trading company visiting North America before Columbus sailed from Spain decades later).
As far as 'A' and 'An' are concerned, the added 'n' takes the place of the glottal stop, which us English speakers find very hard to use because we so often blur our words together. The 'n' allows us to continue to blur them together without the loss of meaning that often would occur if we blurred the glottal stop to nothingness.
mmerlinn
"Political correctness is the BADGE of a COWARD!"
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